Cooper announces £4.5m for local maternity services
BBCMaternity services are a "priority" for the new Health and Social Care Secretary with £4.5m pledged to help mothers and babies in Berkshire, the government has announced.
The funds are for improvements to maternity and neonatal services by tackling urgent safety risks.
It is part of an earlier £112m investment to tackle the causes of maternal death, improve triage services and enhance bereavement facilities.
During a visit to Royal Berkshire Hospital on Wednesday, Health Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: "I think the importance of good quality maternity services in our NHS has too often been underestimated. So too has the traumatic impact for families when things go wrong."
She acknowledged that "families were let down" in the past in "deeply distressing cases".
"Every woman having a baby in the NHS should feel safe and looked after, and that has to be our mission," she added.
The funding will be used to tackle the most urgent safety risks in maternity and neonatal facilities, including issues such as fire safety, ventilation and outdated infrastructure - creating safer environments for mothers and newborns.
The Government said the investment was part of "urgent action" in response to the landmark Amos Review published last month, including the creation of the first ever maternity and neonatal commissioner.
Emily Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died at Barnsley hospital in 2022, told the BBC the idea was "fundamentally dangerous" and placed too much power in the hands of one person.
Cooper, added: "It's vital that we're there for people and they can rely on us, particularly at the beginning of a newborn's life. A lot of good work has been done but there is so much more to do."
She was appointed as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on Monday and has said maternity care will be "one of her most important priorities".
As part of her role she is chair of the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.
The Government added that since June 2024 "significant progress" had been made to reform maternity services in England, including recruiting 2,000 more midwives, the introduction of a new programme to reduce brain injuries during labour and the extension of Martha's Rule to maternity and neonatal wards across England.
Although previous Health Secretary James Murray said the Amos report painted a "bleak picture" of failings across maternity services, spanning pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care.